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ABSTRACT: Inclusive green growth (IGG) is a crucial pathway to high-quality economic development, with standardization serving as a key enabler. Standardization plays a critical role in reducing coordination costs and improving resource allocation efficiency by facilitating rule harmonization, factor integration, and collaborative governance. Examining IGG from a standardization perspective helps clarify the mechanisms through which economic, environmental, and social objectives can be jointly realized, and offers new insights into the institutionalized and sustainable pursuit of multiple development goals. However, how standardization promotes IGG by coordinating economic growth, environmental performance, and social equity remains insufficiently explored in the existing literature. Using panel data from 283 prefecture-level Chinese cities (2012–2021), this study treats the comprehensive standardization reform pilot as a quasi-natural experiment and applies a double machine-learning framework to test whether standardization promotes IGG. The analysis further explores the mediating roles of technological innovation, green finance, and employment quality, and examines heterogeneity across geographic location, resource endowment, industrial base, and city hierarchy. It also evaluates the regional coordination effects of standardization. Results show that standardization significantly advances IGG, though its impact varies by regional and structural characteristics. Standardization enhances IGG by strengthening innovation, expanding green finance, and improving job quality. Moreover, it helps bridge geographic divides, narrow interregional disparities, and enhance coordination. These findings offer empirical evidence for policymakers to design targeted standardization strategies that support sustainable and equitable urban development.
Yuan et al. (Sun,) studied this question.